S1 Elise Sport 160

[melhuishjames]

Does anyone have a detailed history of the Sport 160? Actual numbers made (250?) what was standard what was optional, changes between SVA and later cars (first 50 SVA) etc. Whats good whats bad, any things that should be done to an earlier or later car to improve it, performance and day to day useability, and advice really, I just brought one and started reading up and was suprised by how little I understood about the car and how little there was on the net.

Thanks James

[Sam_68]

Have you seen this, this and this?

[Hollywood Wheels]

Out of ineterest, does anyone know the sort of £££'s we're talking about for the S160 'upgrade' kit, the verniers, throttle body etc? I know various people do it and it's meant to make the car so much more driveable, but I've never seen a price quoted? Cheers...

HW

[Sam_68]

Hollywood Wheels said:

Out of ineterest, does anyone know the sort of £££'s we're talking about for the S160 'upgrade' kit, the verniers, throttle body etc? I know various people do it and it's meant to make the car so much more driveable, but I've never seen a price quoted? Cheers... HW

Dunno, but to be honest you might be better off spending your money with DVA.

Not had any dealings with the man myself (yet!), but he seems to be highly recommended by many Elise owners.

[S Works]

Verniers, an Emerald and a retime and remap is around £1000. To be honest, unless you have a real dog of a car which has terrible manners (apparently the early SVA cars are pretty awful) I don't see the problem.

Mine is a WVTA and 'could' be 'improved' by doing this, piooly has his done and it idles perfectly. I'm sure it's very quick.

Never felt mine needed this done, it's bloody quick anyway, and perfectly civil around town - you just drive around it's little idiosyncracies.

[Hollywood Wheels]

Cheers Tim, sounds good to me. Was just curious as to the cost. I must admit that it was the 'character' of the 160 that attracted me to it in the first place, so I think I'll be leaving it as it is for the time being....

HW

[toxic frog]

i started a thread on seloc last week which developed into a complete guide to the S160 history complete with variants and options etc...

Basically,,,

There are lots of variants ranging from the original SVA cars (with 160hp), through the the WVTA cars (needs a few additions/deletions to reach 160hp), to 111S spec cars with the 160 engine (ie. no silly seats, wheels, suspension etc etc)

[toxic frog]

Hollywood Wheels said:

Cheers Tim, sounds good to me. Was just curious as to the cost. I must admit that it was the 'character' of the 160 that attracted me to it in the first place, so I think I'll be leaving it as it is for the time being.... HW

mine is a complete bitch to drive (kangaroos all over the place) especially as it is running with a 52mm TB (this makes it even more snappy... a 48mm TB will be back on very soon!), and cold starting is worse than on a classic car...

but it has Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more character than a normal or 111S elise... I've had all three and whilst the 111S was the best of the bunch,,, the shear character and 'occasion' provided by the S160 makes it my favourite elise of all time.

i actually drive the car less than my previous elises,,, purely coz it is a fag to drive in normal circumstances, BUT, when it gets going, nothing gets close...

Have fun with it!

[piooly]

Even though mine has been re-timed, it has'nt lost any of the sport 160 character ! Just now drives like a normal car around town, no jumping at all.. If its a weekend car, dont bother, but I use mine everyday and the jumpy bit is a pain so its best done. Still goes like stink and sounds like its about to blow up, spose its that nuts character thats the attraction.

[Hollywood Wheels]

piooly said:

Still goes like stink and sounds like its about to blow up

You've just summed up perfectly why i got one!!!!

[melhuishjames]

Toxic Frog any chance you could post a link to that thread would like to read it. My car is chassis SCCJA1119YHC32002 and am a bit confused as doesnt tie into VIN details (0600-0650 SVA 0651 > STANDARD) as i understood only 250 made so outside numbering boundary, trying to see where it falls into the significant changes...

[ayjay]

http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.ph

i'm not too hot on VIN numbers,,, but another option might be that you have actually bought a Bell & Colville Super 160 conversion... These are great cars in their own right but the 160 label was a bit of a lie (they might make 150hp on a good day with the wind behind them)

i've seen lots of 160's advertised on pistonheads recently which fit a variety of guises from WVTA cars through to simple Lotus 160's and B&C Super 160's. The last SVA car to discredit the pistonheads pages was mine (up for sale with Dream Machines)

if you bought yours via the pistonheads site, post the link (if it's still there) and we might be able to give you some clues.

[melhuishjames]

thank you - its the BRG car being sold by Nick Whale in Birmingham, I traded into it with another car. Its possibly off the site now though but has the correct wheels and side "160" decals so 100% its a 160 Sport not a B&C car..

[ayjay]

just looked at the ad'...

bit bizarre.... the seats are the bog standard S1 leather seats... the SVA 160's and upgraded WVTA 160's had the minimal-padded nlyon & alcantara seats BUT the other 160's had the same leather seats as the S1 111S which are completely different to those fitted to your car.

i might be wrong but i'm sure those seats were never fitted to a factory 160.

might also want to be getting rid of those p-zeros sooner rather than later... with that age and mileage they will be hard as nails.

you could phone lotus with the chassis number (I called them with mine to double check).

does the car have LSS (lotus sports suspension) as well as the victory alloys?

[ChrisWann]

if the VIN is that high then it's a late car so by then the seats and LSS were an option!

i think there are more than 250 of them, although i don't know for sure how the VIN's progress!

[ayjay]

Chris,

what i meant was that i thought the funky sports-seats were an option, whilst the standard seats were the same as the S1 111S (the basic S160 was effectively a S1 111S without the carbon trim and VVC engine)

the green car in the photos has basic S1 leather-trimmed seats... which i have not seen before on a S160

>> Edited by ayjay on Wednesday 26th April 16:36

[rfoster]

Have you got any pics? Couldn't find it on the Nickwhale website.

[toxic frog]

it's still on the pistonheads classifieds

[piooly]

melhuishjames said:

thank you - its the BRG car being sold by Nick Whale in Birmingham, I traded into it with another car. Its possibly off the site now though but has the correct wheels and side "160" decals so 100% its a 160 Sport not a B&C car..

Hi mate, I tried to email you the other day but yahoo rejected it.

Seems strange about the seats. Only way is to check the V5 book, or I could slip an emal to Lotus. I have the email address for the technical director at the factory, I asked him to check my number.

[toxic frog]

i guess nick whales have read this post,,, as the ad has mysteriously been removed in the last couple of hours...

at the end of the day, there were so many incarnations of the Elise 160 that yours could very easily be one of them... the ONLY real way to check will be to call up Lotus who are usually very good and will scuttle off into their archives to dig up the paper files (they did for mine) and tell you exactly what you have bought.